Sky King
by zinniast8fair
Summary: Captain Picard, La Forge and Data have a terrible vacation on SnowHaven and want to go home. However, someone has stolen their shuttlecraft. Enter the Sky King, old dame of the Space Lanes! Yeah, right! The first challenge was to get it off the ground.


Sky King

"I could almost kill for a cup of hot tea!" grumbled the damp, cramped Captain Picard. He was wedged between two Shar^atswho were arguing about a finer point of plant identification techniques in their high, squeaky voices. La Forge clung onto his visor with both hands to keep it from being pulled off by a curious Shar^at child, who had tired of trying to outsmart Data with an endless litany of "why" questions. Data sat on the trio's luggage in a corner of the crowded vehicle, entertaining three other Shar^at children witha story while trying to keep them from opening the luggage beneath him. This had been the worst camping trip the trio had ever gone on, for it had rained or sleeted the entire week, and now they had to endure a miserable transport back into civilization. By the time the vehicle rumbled to a stop, Picardfelt that his head was about to explode. He stood up as soon as he could and helped liberate Data from the junior Shar^ats and Geordie grabbed the luggage. They moved in quick precision and got off, one, two and three. Then he led his team toward the shuttlepads. Ah.....but when they reached the place where their shuttlecraft had been parked, it was GONE! Picard slam-dunked his backpack onto the pavement.

"That does it!" he snarled. "You two stay here until I find out where our ship is!"

********

The _Enterprise_arrived at Starbase 17, or in more common terms "Iceman Station" at the appointed time to pick up the wandering campers, but found that they had not yet arrived. So, Commander Rikerallowed some short R&R trips to the station. The station was on the outskirts of a small solar system with an oddly discolored sun. There was a scientific outfit studying the sun, apparently someone had an idea of how to make it function better. But that was of no concern to Riker. He decided to get up and roam around the ship for awhile, so he turned the Bridge over to Worf. "If any Romulanspass this way, blast them." he said on his way out. "With pleasure, sir." replied Worf from his station. Rikerstrolled from floor to floor, waving and saying "hello" to this person or that person, until he wandered into Sick Bay and found Doctor Crusher arguing with the ship's Steward.

"You _will not_ put those machines into _my_ wall!" shouted the Steward.

"_Your_ wall! This is _my _department and I want those DNA sequencers installed TODAY." countered the red faced Doctor Crusher.

"They are ugly, and they will ruin the decor!"

"DECOR????" Crusher shrieked, outraged.

"What is going on here?" Riker intervened. Both officers gathered around him and spilled their stories at the same time. " Wait a minute! One at a time, please!" he protested. Then his communicator chirped. Riker frowned and answered. "What is it?" he asked sharply.

"Sir, there is a group of school children and their teacher from Iceman Station in the shuttle bay. They seem to have won some sort of contest and touring the first StarFleet Starship to arrive at the station was their prize." said Worf. Riker's face did a flip-flop, then he said, "Assign them a Child Care Officer until I can catch up to them." "Yes, sir." said Worf. Riker turned back to the pair of angry officers. "Now, start over, one at a time!" he instructed, while thinking "Kids? Tours? What is this, a museum?"

********

Data and Geordie waited for the Captain in a crowded corridor of the space port, loaded with most of their gear. The shuttlecraft had entirely disappeared and SnowHaven authorities promised to make it right by assigning them another shuttle to take them to Iceman. Picard had gone to pick up the necessary papers, and the location of their vessel. "I don't like this, Data. He's been gone too long." complained Geordie. Data was watching something happening behind La Forge. He touched Geordie's arm. "Sir, that boy is about to steal something from your backpack." he said quietly. "What?" squawked Geordie and he spun around to look. A young man sped off like his shoes were on fire. "HEY!" yelled Geordie. He started to go after the lightfinger, but Data restrained him by putting his hand on Geordie's shoulder. "I do not believethat he took anything." he said. "Are you sure?" La Forge asked, turning his back to Data. "Check my pack!" he demanded. "If that rat took anything...." Data checked the fasteners on Geordie's pack and looked inside some pockets. "Nothing appears to be missing, Geordie." he said. "Well, I couldn't catch him in this crowd anyway." Geordie grumbled.

Another ten minutes passed before they saw Picard struggling towards them against the flow of the crowd. He was yelling something, and it took Data a couple of times before he could hear all that Picard had said. "Understood, sir!" Data boomed. Picard surrendered to the crowd and let it drag him the other way, waving as he went. "He said, Port 19, in an hour. Sooner, if possible." Data informed Geordie. "At last!" Geordie exclaimed, picking up a bag that was resting next to his feet. They forged their way through the traffic, each one trying to guard each other's backs against more pickpockets. A transporter would have been welcome, but they were illegal on SnowHaven, as were personal communicators. The present planetary government believed that access to such common amenities would spoil the local culture too much. "The real truth is that the government probably doesn't want to ruin the transportation racket in operation here!" Picard had observed sometime during the trek back out of the forest. "Not to mention the exorbitant fees in the spaceport", Geordie noted to himself. The whole set-up reeked of Ferengi infiltration.

After battling the crowd for another twenty minutes or so, they arrived at a pair of huge bay doors, the kind that hinted of several ships behind them. Data thrust their ID card into the slot, the door opened, and they went in. But Port 19 contained only one ship and one ship only. A legendary old dame of the spaceways, a Sky King.

"Oh, nooooo!" groaned Geordie.

"Perhaps there has been an error." said Data.

"I hope so!" agreed Geordie feverishly. The old cruiser was covered withdust and he did not want to imagine the state of affairs insideit. The Captain arrived with a smile on his face until he saw what the other two were looking at. He glanced at his papers, the ship, and then the papers again. His face turned purple. "I'll be back!" he snarled between clenched teeth.

"Well, Data, we might as well put our stuff next to the ship and start looking it over." Geordie said after the Captain left.

"Perhaps I should go with the Captain. He seems overly stressed."

"He can handle it, Data. Let's look at that communications array first."

********

"And I told _you_to GET THAT SPACE JUNK OUT OF OUR WAY!" Worf roared to the obviously drunk captain who insisted that the _Enterprise_was in "his" slot. The ship in question was a pleasure ship out of Alton Five, and the captain was wearing a hideous uniform of orange and bright pink. "This shpot hash been in the fammmly for 'long time now!" replied the lubricated captain. Worf tired of the argument, and decided to try the civilized way out, first. "Computer! Notify station security!" he barked. A moment went by, then: "Station Security. We see it, and we're on it, _Enterprise_." "Good!" replied the irritated Klingon. He was about to snap off the communications, when the navigator turned around and said, "Sir, I've found the Captain's shuttlecraft'sconning signal. It's coming from the other side of Iceman." Worf frowned deeper, and contacted Riker, who was busy trying to maintain his composure in front of a dozen multimedia students when Worfcalled. One student had asked if he had ever ordered anyone to their death, and the others had eagerly hopped onto the subject. The next half-hour of interview had been the worst he had experienced since his last exams at the Academy. Their instructor simply hung back and smiled at them encouragingly. The chirping communicator was a relief! He excused himself, backed into a convenient turbo lift, and shut the door. He put the lift on "hold" and took a couple deep breaths before answering Worf.

"Riker here. What's happening on the bridge, Worf?"

"Have you received word from the Captain?" Worf asked.

"No, and I'm getting worried." replied Riker. The students discovered that he hadn't gone anywhere, and began pounding on the door. He could hear them calling, "Commander Riker! Commander Riker!" He groaned aloud, not wanting to face them again. Worf heard him and grew concerned. "Do you need help, sir?" he asked. "No," Riker answered, while mentally kicking himself. "What about the Captain?" he asked. "We found his shuttlecrafton the other side of the station, sir." "I'm coming up." Riker switched off his communicator, activated the turbo lift, and called Counselor Troi to take over the tour.

"YOU!" shouted the speaker above Worf. He looked up in surprise. "Move it NOW or we WILL TOW!!" He looked at the screen. Two station security vehicles hung by the recalcitrant cruiser. The drunken captain objected vigorously, but Security took no quarter. They began towing the problem away. Worf turned off the communications, choking off an enraged "HEY, you can't do thish--!!" from the unfortunate captain.

********

Picard had argued, haggled, and outright bribed the officials to try to get out of the mess, but it was the Sky King or nothing. There was the _Enterprise_, of course, but being rescued in a situation like this was, well, embarrassing. So, they gloomily boarded the old ship, withthe unspoken agreement that they'd call for help if she looked as bad on the insideas she did on the outside. But the insides were amazingly clean and well tended. The atmosphere had been changed recently, which was a pleasant surprise for Picard, who was expecting a strong whiff of very stale air as soon as the hatch opened. "Geordie, get back there and see what powers this relic. If it is still an ion drive, let's call home."

"Yes, sir." said La Forge, setting his bags down in a side room.

"Data, let's look at the Command Area." Picard said, pointing towards the room in the bow. Data took the Captain's bags and put them next to Geordie's, and joined Picard. There were two worn "launch" chairs complete with seatbeltsand headrests. Many of the controls and indicators had handwritten labels stuck beneath them, and Data found a pair of pilot's headsets hanging near his chair. He took them off their peg and examined them.

"Let's hope the communications aboard this ship are more sophisticated than that!" said Picard when he saw Data looking at them.

"They are, sir. Geordie and I inspected them while you were trying to untangle our transportation problems. He said that we should be able to reach Iceman from here, once we get the ship powered up."

"Thank you, Data, hmmmm. Wonder what this does...?" Picardmumbled while toying with an unlabeled switch.

********

"Sir, Iceman Authority still has not located our party. They insist that they have no record of their arrival." reported Worf. "What do they have to say about the shuttlecraft?" asked Riker. "They are still investigating it. There is apparently no record of anyone being on it when it arrived. Or getting off of it, for that matter." Could this be some kind of practical joke, and the missing men would turn up on the _Enterprise_somewhere? thought Riker. Nah! Captain Picard didn't pull things like that. "Ask Iceman if we could have a look at our shuttle, and emphasize the word "our"." Riker said. Worf complied, snarling the word "our". He waited for the reply for fifteen minutes, then he tried again. A self-righteous looking official appeared on the viewscreen and denied permission, as any tampering would mess up the evidence. "What evidence?" demanded Riker.

"Nothing that should concern you, Captain." sniffed the official

"Commander." Riker corrected. "We are _looking_ for our captain!"

"Oh, I'm sure he'll turn up soon, you know those Dabo girls, and how they _love_to see the captains!" tittered the official as he signed off. Riker glared at the neutral screen. Dabo girls, indeed! He turned to Worf. "How long have they been looking for them?" he asked. "Almost four hours, sir."

That's more than enough time for 'gathering evidence'. Something strange is going on around here, thought Riker. Any other station would have at least called its "host" planet by now to find out if the missing people had left yet. From what Worf could tell, all that had occurred on Iceman was a light sweep around the station. Riker looked at Worf again. "Run a very limited scan of the station, and keep it on the sly." he said.

"For Captain Picard?"

"No, I think they might be expecting that. Look for Data."

"Very well, sir." Worf began looking, when Dr. Crusher called the bridge.

"I'm still having problems with the Steward." she complained.

"Tell him to meet me in the Conference Room in fifteen minutes. Wait! _I'll_tell him." said Riker.

********

"Worse and worse." muttered La Forge as he examined the engineering nightmare in the crowded cubbyhole. A jumbled collection of new, used, and antique technology was cobbled together in a unique fashion that he could almost, but not quite figure out. It had the oldest still functioning warp coil that he'd ever seen outside of the EarthLunar Space Museum. The dilythium crystals were not of the best quality, but in this old-timer, top quality would probably wreck the whole power system the moment you turned it on. "Humph!" he snorted to himself. If this bucket actually got off the ground, much less into orbit, he'd demand a raise. He pried open a panel and groaned aloud. What a mess! He turned around and yelled out the door, "It's gonna take awhile, Captain!" Picard and Data were still sorting out the Command Area and Picard half-turned in his seat and shouted back "Understood!" He turned to Data and said, "Let's get the intercoms up first. All this yelling is wearing thin." Data agreed, and reached over the Captain to flip a switch. "I believe this will enable them." he said. La Forge was probing a circuit at the same moment that Data flipped the switch, and the resulting surge of power tripped a circuit breaker, plunging them all into darkness.

"LA FORGE!" roared Picard.

"Working on it!"

About three hours later, they were ready to try the engines. Geordie had encountered a lot of unusual parts that seemed to belong to an entirely different ship and Data had found a whole computer system hiding behind the one they were working with. But the Captain clearly wanted to get back to the _Enterprise_, so they put these little mysteries aside for the moment. Picardand Data strapped themselves into the chairs in the Command Area, and Geordie muttered dark threats to the machinery in the engineering cubicle. Data ticked off the preflight checklist, and said "All systems appear to be ready, sir".

"Begin the warm-up sequence." said Picard. To everyone's relief, she came on-line smoothly. They let her sit there for half an hour, running more pre-flight diagnostics. Suddenly, there was a burst of static through the intercom from SnowHaven Traffic Control. Picardwent into a sideroom to take the call and almost immediately began shouting at whomever was at the other end, finishing with an outraged "That is _absurd_!" He stormed out of the room and ordered a countdown.

"Sir, we aren't done with all the pre-flights yet!" objected La Forge.

"I am aware of that, Geordie, but we cannot wait any longer. Begin departure procedures."

"Yes, sir" said La Forge. He sighed, and began working the necessary controls. He watched the indicators flux erratically a moment, then settle. He laid his tools out in a more efficient arrangement and looked at the indicators again. "Just as I thought." he exclaimed to himself. One bank of lights had gone from green to yellow. He opened a lid, tweaked things inside, and watched the lights return to green. "That's better." he said, closing the lid. "How are things back there, Geordie?" squawked the intercom. "So far, so good." he replied, then remembered that he had to hit the switch on the intercom to talk. This intercom business is getting rather annoying, he decided. He tried again, this time hitting the switch first.

"Prepare for launch." replied the Captain, after getting Geordie's report.

"Well, here goes nothing!" Geordie exclaimed to himself as he turned back to the controls.

They lifted off slowly, trying to ease the old ship into the sky. She creaked and groaned, then she roared to life, going from lift-off to near subspace speed all by herself in a split second. She streaked out of the atmosphere as if she couldn't get away fast enough. The men were smashed into their seats by G-forces. Picard yelled something incoherent, and as soon as Geordie could, he pulled himself to the power controls and backed them down. His intercom chimed, it was Picard. "I thought we were going to nurse her out." said the Captain irritably.

"I didn't do it, she did it all by herself!" Geordie exclaimed.

"Somehow, I can believe that." replied Picard.

"Captain, can we try our communicators now? We should be out of their jamming fields by now." Geordie suggested. There was a pause, then his badge chirped.

"Excellent idea, La Forge!" said Picard through the communicator.

"Sir, SnowHaven's Traffic Control wants to speak to you." said Data.

"What do they want?" responded Picard coldly.

"They want to fine us for an improper departure, sir."

Picard's face turned dark a moment, then he said, "Tell them to charge it to Star Fleet."

"That will take some time to process, sir."

"Good!"

The ship rattled a moment, and Geordie said, "We're ready to try the main subspace drive, sir." Picard grinned and said, "Let's go!" An unholy scream issued from the cubbyhole and the ship shook violently, then she launched into subspace. Then she settled down again, except for one minor detail. The gravitational field had failed. "Um, Geordie, we have a problem up here." Picard noted calmly.

"I could use some help back here, sir." called Geordie. Picard nodded to Data, who had unstrapped his seatbelts. One flew back and almost hit Picard in the face. "Data! Be careful!" he cautioned, while pushing the dangerous object away. "Sorry, sir." Then Data launched out of his chair and crashed into the ceiling.

"Data!" cried the Captain.

"I seem to be having some difficulty--"

"Make every move count. Didn't you learn that at the Academy?"

"No, sir. I think they just assumed that I would adjust."

"Well, adjust then, and get back to Geordie."

"Yes, sir." Data grabbed the top of his chair, tucked in his legs to avoid kicking the captain, and pulled forward, propelling himself towards the door. "That's better." said Picard. "When we get back home, you are to assign yourself to some null-grav training." "Yes, sir." replied Data again.

An hour later, they gavethe Captain the bad news. It was either subspace and no gravity or puttering around the planet withgravity. The ship could not provide both. Picard frowned. Riker would probably be waiting for them by now. "Very well. Carry on." he told them. He tried to signal the _Enterprise_to let Will know that they would be late, but there was too much interference. "So much for being able to reach Iceman from SnowHaven!" he muttered in disgust.

********

The secret probe of Iceman revealed no Data, La Forge or Picard. Worf had run all three scans, two of them without Riker's knowledge. He even probed all of the vessels around Iceman, including the allegedly off-limits shuttlecraft. He found several life forms inside it, none being Star Fleet personnel. As he watched, the shuttlecrafts' systems began coming on.

"Sir, our shuttlecraft is preparing to leave." he reported.

"Keep an eye on it, Worf, and hail Iceman to inform them that their "evidence" is getting away." Riker instructed.

Iceman ignored the hails.

"Sir, I can tap into their computer and find out where they are headed." Worf told Riker after a few minutes had passed.

"Do it." said Riker. "I'm going over to Iceman Authority to find out what's going on!"

"That might not be wise." cautioned Worf. "All the important personnel are now off-duty, sir." Riker stopped, then returned to his post.

"You're right." he said. "And since everybody who is anybody on Iceman is visiting the Dabo girls, let's go shuttlecraft chasing!"

"Setting?" requested the navigator.

********

Night time on an old ship could be an interesting experience. "Milli", as Picardhad begun to call her, had an unusual sound about her as she traveled through space. It was kind of rhythmic, starting at her bow and working back towards her stern somewhere. There were several fans inside the control panels pumping hot air onto his boots. Somewhere, a processor was starting to go bad. Ah, well, so long as it all held up for the rest of the journey, why worry? Data was babying the warp coils in engineering and Geordie was getting some rest. Picardrelaxed in the battered Command Chair, enjoying the spring in the back that let the chair tip back just far enough for him to put his feet on the panel. "Interesting!" he thought, as he fell asleep, "there's a groove for my feet in--just--the---right-----place! Znnnnkkzzzzz!"

He woke up in a hurry. A klaxon had begun shrieking behind him and the ship dropped out of subspace, causing everything to crash to the floor. The lights went out, and so did everything else. He sat there a moment, stunned, hearing Data tromping around in the dark. Where were the emergency lights?

"Data! Did you do what I told you NOT to do?" roared Geordie from the side room, startling Picard, who was searching for the light switch. "I tried an alternativemethod." said Data from the engine room. There was a stirring in the sideroom and Geordie crashed into the wall. "Ouch!" he mumbled witha curse.

"Would someone mind letting me in on the latest malfunction?" Picard yelled.

"Data must havebeen trying to improve the warp coil's efficiency, sir." Geordie replied.

"It should have worked!" countered Data from the hallway.

"Can someone please get some lights on in here?" Picard asked wearily.

"I don't know if I can. Data may have shorted everything out!"

"Sir, I did not do that! I merely misapplied---"

"I don't _care_who did what to what, I just want some lights on!" A double "yes, sirs" followed Picard's grumpy outburst. After the two dug out their hand lights from their luggage and went back to engineering, Picard went and got out his own light. He prowled back to the Command Area and tried to determine where the breaker switch was. If the problem was indeed a short out, then maybe tripping it would get the lights back on. But before he could touch anything, the emergency lights came on. A generator whined behind the Captain.

"Captain? Did you do that?" asked Geordie.

"No, I was about to ask you the same thing."

"Well, there's something interesting back here, and I think you should come have a look." said La Forge.

********

The _Enterprise_followed the shuttlecraftas if it were following a guide ship into a bay at a space station. Whoever was in control of it was either ignoring them or totally oblivious. Hails went unacknowledged, but the _Enterprise_ captured several conversations going out to other people. None made any sense.

"Commander. Shall I fire a phaser in their general direction?" queried Worf. Rikerturned and looked up at him to see if he was kidding or not. "Tempting, but we'd better not." he said after seeing a trace of a smile on the Klingon's lips. "Get ready to over-ride the shuttle's controls."

"Yes, sir." Worf had been ready to do this for quite awhile, but he pretended to work the controls anyway. After an appropriate measure of time, he said, "Ready, sir."

"Take them."

Worf flicked the panels, and the shuttle came to a dead stop. The fools on the shuttle now had nothing to do but sit there. Riker hailed them again. A long silence, probably caused by them trying to get the shuttle to move again, then, "Uh, who are you again?"

"Commander Riker, of the Starship _Enterprise_. Surrender our shuttlecraft,_ now_."

"Which fleet are you from, _Enterprise_? We don't deal with just _anyone_, you know."

Riker looked at Worf with his eyebrows raised. Worf pointed at the phasers button. Riker grinned, and turned back to the screen. "We are surprised that you haven't heard of the famed _Enterprise_ of the Federation of Planets. Furthermore, we are getting very tired of this game. Surrender. Or we will beam you aboard!"

"You can't do that! We've got rights!"

"You are in possession of a stolen vehicle. Surrender it, now!"

"What do you mean, stolen? We paid for it fair and square!"

Riker turned to Worf, and made a sign in the air. Worf touched his buttons and suddenly the shuttle thieves found themselves on the Bridge. Riker crossed his arms and Worf sneered. The three men suddenly looked as if they desperately wanted a hole to hide in. "Well, does anybody have anything to say, or shall I throw you all into the brig until a lawyer can be found for you?" asked Riker. They chose the brig.

The shuttlecraft was brought aboard. Worfand several other security personnel went insideand found a hordeof contraband goods worth a considerable sum on the black market. Worftold the others to get out and he sealed the vessel so that the evidence could not be tampered with. He put a guard on it, then joined Riker, who was standing in the hall outside of the brig. "Well?" he asked Worf. "We found a lot of contraband in the shuttle. I have sealed it and placed a guard there." "Good. There is going to be more trouble back at home for that trio", Riker said, pointing over his shoulder. "They are elected local officials from Iceman and SnowHaven. None are high officials, but their arrest will cause some waves in the local political scenery." "Then they had better watch themselves. Whoever supplied them with the contraband is likely to become very angry. But that does not answer the question of our captain's whereabouts." said Worf. Riker frowned and said "We're going back to Iceman for another look, and if they aren't there....then it's on to SnowHaven." "If anyone has hurt them..." began Worf.

"They will haveto deal with _me_ first, then you can have them."

"Of course, sir."

********

"Of all the little green men of Mars!" exclaimed Picard as Geordie showed him some surprisingly advanced circuitry near the warp coil. "It saved our entire power grid, including the coil, by dumping the ship's systems into default mode when it detected the fatal error in Data's work." said Geordie, while carefully re-installing the parts. "But where did it come from?" asked Picard. "Hard to say, sir, but it appears military." replied La Forge.

"What is your opinion, Data?" asked Picard.

"I agree with Geordie that this element is military issue. It must be part of the other inconsistencies about this vessel." he paused, then complained, "Sir, the warp coil is not working at full efficiency."

"Data, we are using a very old warp coil. The standing rule about an old coil is: If it aint broke, don't fix it!" scolded Geordie.

"You misunderstand me, Geordie. The coil is capable of more, but is currently not on the correct programming mode."

"Even if it could go faster, Data, I still wouldn't trust it. I don't think this old girl could hold together. In fact, I'm not sure if the warp envelope would be in the correct configuration. It would probably be very loose and sloppy. Going faster might encourage an adventure that none of us want." Geordie lectured.

Picard had heard this argument before, and decided to inspect the engine room during the conversation. "I don't think we can correct a warp envelope problem without better onboard sensors, Data." Picard remarked after Geordie ran out of steam. "But getting back to inconsistencies, Data, didn't you say that there are more computers on this ship than necessary?"

"Yes, sir."

"Take a look at that extra hardware. Maybe we can avoid more surprises if we know what's hiding in DOS." said Picard.

"DOS?" asked Data curiously.

"An operating system that helped usher in the personal computer in the late 20th century. It hid behind the active programs in a kind of neutral state until directly accessed. It was an effective system, but it sometimes caused conflicts with the active programs or other surprising headaches for the user." Data stood there for a moment, thinking, then went to have a talk with the computer, which turned out to be another bad thing to do. He activated the hidden programming simply by trying to look at it and it jumped to the forefront, over-riding the others. A feminine computer voice was heard: "Warp Coils Enabled. Engaging Warp Drive!"

WHAM! "Milli" went from drifting to Warp One, and tried to go even faster. But fortunately for all concerned, some safety devices came on and kept her at Warp One. She complained: "Safety Devices Activated. Do I Dis-able?" She repeated the question a few times until the men could pull themselves together enough to find the appropriate panel to say an emphatic "NO!"

"Data, did you do that on purpose?" Picard asked in a dangerous tone. He had come into the Command Area to keep the safety devices on and was now correcting "Milli's" course. "Sir? No, I did not. I seem to have accidentally activated the hidden system. I am endeavoring to explore all of its aspects." Picardalmost said something, then pulled himself over to the command chair with one arm. He maneuvered himself into it and belted himself in. "What have you found so far?" he asked through his teeth. "That the hidden programs appear to be the original factory issue. The programs we activated at SnowHaven were later installations. I haveyet to determine why the original ones were submerged beneath the later programming." Data replied

"Maybe some past owners didn't like the original programs and failed to erase them." Picardsuggested in a calmer tone. Geordie floated in and carefully pulled himself under the main control panel. He began beating on the bottom until the cover popped and floated free. He twiddled with something, then a whole bank of lights came on next to Data. He kicked another part of the panel and more lights came on next to Picard. Then he put the cover back on, and came out. "I think we are finally fully activated, sir." he said to Picard. "Data, you will find the weapons turned on, and Captain, we can have shields once we drop out of Warp."

"Weapons?" exclaimed Picard.

"Yup. A full battery of early phasertype weaponry. All we gotta do is charge them up." said La Forge with a grin.

Now why did this boat need weapons? wondered Picard. "What have you learned from the computer? Any reasons why she was built like this?" he asked Data, waving an arm around. Data cocked his head. "Does the name _"Madam's Marauder_" seem familiar, sir?"

"_Madam's Marauder_? That is the name of the ship that successfully held off the Klingon invasion of Cardoon. Her captain was awarded with every kind of award for heroism that anybody could think of. But the ship disappeared long ago." said Picard. "No. It has not. It has merely been renamed to "Milli".

Picard sat back in his seat and looked around him. Geordie breathed an astonished "No way!" All were silent until the computer chirped: "Encountering a large object at high velocity. Suggest a course change?" it said.

Picard leaned over and looked at his panels, which showed a large object moving past at a good clip. He reached for the communications panel, and tried to contact the "object." Data put the headphones on, and heard the _Enterprise's_conning signal. "Sir?" he asked while he took off the headphones and gave them to Picard. "I think you need to use these, sir." Picardtook them from Data, handling them as if they were infested with a disease. He unwillingly put them on and thought of all kinds of old clichés he could try on Riker, like "ten-four good buddy!" and "over-and-out!" Geordie started to laugh at his captain's expression. Then he reached over Picard's shoulder and touched the unlabeled switch. Picard jumped, for suddenly he could hear static interrupted by a steady beeping.

"At last!" Picard sighed to himself.

********

The _Enterprise's_computer noted the small cruiser off to the side and the navigator changed the course slightly to avoid it without bothering Riker about it. Why ask him, so long as they got to SnowHaven in one piece. But the cruiser's warp envelope seemed wobbly, so he looked back at Worf.

"Sir?" he asked Worf. " Is that ship in any danger? It's warp envelope doesn't look very stable."

Worf glanced at his panel, then shrugged. "As long as they are not going much farther than Iceman, the ship will be able to hold its envelope." he said. Then he looked down again. The computer was telling him something rather ridiculous. He blinked. Maybe he should get some rest. This would be entirely too amusing, if it were true. He decided to recheck the readings, just to be sure. Rikerwalked in from the conference room witha dangerous look on his face. He had dealt with the Steward in there and sent him sulking back to his duties. Then he had gone on a merry-go-round of calls to SnowHaven.

"SnowHaven insists that they left yesterday afternoon, and that we are to go looking for some lost politicos of theirs. I neglected to tell them that their politicos are in our brig!" he said angrily.

"What did the Captain leave SnowHaven in, sir?" asked Worf with a catch in his voice. He was trying not to laugh. "I don't know!" exclaimed Riker, slamming himself into his seat. "Some cruiser they lent to them after their shuttlecraft was stolen. Do you know how many cruisers there are around here?" he asked waving an arm around. Worf now had a small dilemma. Tell Riker what the computer was telling him, or let Riker wind down a bit. He decided on the later, it was more fun that way. He concealed an evil little grin. He waited a few minutes, then he announced:

"There is an audio only communication coming in, sir. It is Captain Picard."

"Put him on!" barked Riker.

"Dammit, Riker, will you please _slow down_! We can't catch up to you!" cried an exasperated Picard. Riker stiffened in his seat, for that was not what he had expected. "Right behind you, at the grand old speed of Warp One." was the slightly static-charged reply. Riker looked back at Worf, who touched a couple buttons and a picture of the Sky King appeared on the viewscreen. A warning indicator appeared on the screen, the cruiser's warp envelope was beginning to fail. Riker sat there a moment, too stunned to say anything, then commanded the engineer to bring the _Enterprise_ to a stop.

"Are they in _any_danger, Worf?" he asked carefully.

"Some, sir, but no immediate danger." Then the grin reappeared in full Klingon glory. "It seems that they havelost all gravity of the situation. Their engine cannot provide enough power for warp and gravity control at the same time!" he said, grinning. Riker failed to see the humor of this at the time, but did not reprimand Worf. Instead, he called Picard again. "What are you _doing_ in that old thing?" he asked.

"I'm happy to report that this "old thing" has had a long and wonderful history. She's a little rough around the edges, but after some care and attention, she'll be a fine little ship again!"

"Worf, how is their atmosphere? Are they getting enough oxygen?" Riker hissed. Worf nodded, and watched his panels. Suddenly, he lost the grin, and it settled into a thoughtful frown. But Riker failed to see this, as he had turned back to the screen.

********

On the Sky King, the trio went about the business of matching up to the _Enterprise_. But the computer saw a threatening large object ahead on a collision course and decided that something must be done. It activated the imminent collision alarm.

********

"What?" yelled Picardover the shrieking siren. There was a brief muffled conversation, then, "Data, please de-activate the alarm!" More muffled conversation, then, "Find the fuse that powers it and yank it out!" Riker's eyebrows rose. Fuses? "That's the spirit, Data." said Picard. "What did you say, Will?"

"Do you want us to beam you aboard, sir?" he repeated.

"Out of the question!" objected the Captain. "I bought this ship and I'm bringing her in!"

"You _bought_ her, sir?"

"I had no other choice in the matter. Either take the _Marauder_, or sit there, stranded on SnowHaven, until you could come and pick us up." replied a tired sounding Picard.

_Marauder_? Please, no. He didn't name that junkyold thing, did he? Well, he didn't get into trouble at an archaeological site again. This time he's bringing it along with him! thought Riker. Worfstirred behind him and called something up on the computer. "Captain, when you get close enough, do you want to bring her in by yourself, or will you need a tow?" he asked, with a growing grin. He could hardly wait until the rest of this story came out!

"Riker, if you touch my ship with a tow, I'll have you tossed in the brig for a week!" Picard threatened gently.

"Aye, aye, sir. Shuttlebay Two is open and waiting, sir."

********

The Sky King sailed into the Shuttlebay with smooth grace, and only creaked a little as she settled onto her feet again. The trio had barely begun the shut-down procedures when the welcoming committee came aboard. Riker came on first, grinning broadly at the appearance of the insides. "Need any help in here?" he asked. Then Worf came aboard in full Klingon regalia. This caused a curious pause in his commanders.

"Sirs. I wear this in honor of a very brave ship and her even braver crew. The Empire has had a long-standing warrant out on her, but I think I can convince them to allow her to remain here, in Federation space, as it _has_been a long time since the Empire attempted an expansion to Cardoon. But they will probably insist that its weapons be removed." Picardsmiled. "You may remove the weapons, Worf. We'll turn them over to the next Klingon ship that we pass by. I really doubt that this ship will ever be used for fighting again."

"Very well, sir."

Dr. Crusher appeared, and she looked around her, smiling. "Looks like you've had an adventure, Captain. But what happens now?" Picard thought a moment, then said, "I happen to know a collector at Cardoon who would commit mayhem to get his hands on the _Marauder_ in _any_ condition."

"Oh, no you don't!" exclaimed Geordie, who had squeezed by Crusher in time to hear all this. "This is my restoration project! _No one_is going to touch so much as a spanner on her unless I permit it! Sir!" Picard crossed his arms. He mocked a glare, then grinned. "Only if you let Data help you. And myself, when I can."

"Yes, sir!" Geordie said, and then he turned to Data. "I'll tackle the engine room. You tackle the computers!" "Deal!" agreed Data, sticking out his hand. Geordie grabbed it and he gave it a good pumping.

"I still don't get it. What were you doing in this old vehicle, and what's this about the _Madam's Marauder_? asked Riker.

********

Later, they gathered in Ten Forward to discuss the whole of it; the contraband runners had been using the _Marauder_for several years withno problems with the law. Then the man who owned her got shot over a gambling bill and a Dabo girl. The ship moldered in SnowHaven's port because the contrabannerswere "borrowing" things with longer ranges and faster speeds. They had waited until the trio were on their way, and then "borrowed" the _Enterprise_shuttle to make a single run, but things went sour and they ran late, leaving something of a pickle for their fellow conspirators on SnowHaven. Those people scrambled, had the _Marauder_ serviced, and had her assigned to the _Enterprise_crewmen. It was never meant to actually get off the ground; it was simply a stall tactic until the shuttlecraft got back.

"They tried to slow us down further by throwing on some last minute legal hassles, but we took off before they could enforce them." said Picard, sipping some tea. "So that's why we didn't finish the pre-flights. We might have never gotten away from SnowHaven if we had been able to do them all." said La Forge. He shook his head. "I should have noticed the safety devices on the warp coils, though. They stick out like sore toes."

"Perhaps you did not see them for what they were, Geordie. Even I did not recognize them until they had performed their function." Data said.

Worf came in and joined them. "I have removed the _Marauder's_ teeth, sir. I put them in storage until we can turn them over to a Klingon official."

"Thank, you Worf." said Picard. "What's to become of the men in the brig?" he asked Riker.

Rikersuddenly yawned. "Sorry, sir. It's been a long day." he apologized. "They are being taken to Alton Five for an impartial trial. Seems as though the entire political structure on SnowHaven and Iceman has been stirred up by their arrest. Maybe their connections were deeper than they first appeared." "Hmmm. Planetary politics can get rather hairy." Picard commented. "What's this I hear about some children on board?" he asked. Riker groaned and rubbed his eyes. He didn't want to talk about them--all the sudden, he jumped to his feet. "They are _still_ _here_!" he exclaimed, and ran out the door. Geordie chuckled. "Actually, they left a few hours ago, while we were still at Iceman picking up the rest of our people and supplies."

"He must be tired!" Picard exclaimed, grinning. A junior officer shyly approached the table. "Sir? There's a call for you from Cardoon. They say it's from a ship merchant, sir." said the young crewman.

"Already?" exclaimed Geordie.

"Let the bidding begin!" announced Data. Picard burst into laughter, and went to take the call.

(End)


End file.
